The Qarith Crusade
15 billion Army soldiers approximately 500,000 Space Marines 500 Titans 3000 Knights approximately 1 billion Mechanicum troops |forces2= (To be added) |casual1= Billions of military casualties, a score of worlds overrun with vast civilian losses |casual2= Total annihilation of the Qarith }} The Qarith Crusade, known also as the Qarith War, was an Imperial xenocidal campaign fought between the Imperium of Man and the once-human Qarith Empire in the last decade of the 30th Millenium. The Qarith emerged suddenly with the clearing of large Warp storms, causing severe losses to Imperial frontier regions. The Imperium responded with one of the greatest hosts it had ever committed to a single campaign and a massive war ensued, drawing in forces from half the Legiones Astartes and large numbers of Army regiments and other forces. The Imperials were ultimately victorious, driving the Qarith back and exterminating them wherever they were found. The xenos were finally broken on Qarith Prime itself, and the Emperor decreed that a great procession be held upon the world. The resulting Qarith Triumph would be long remembered, both as the high watermark of the Great Crusade and the point at which tragic events were set in train. The Devolved Qarith Prime of old was known to the rulers of the Imperium, spoken of in the same breath as Medusa or Kolian as a world where all the glory of the Age of Technology was embodied, even after the Men of Iron had wreaked such awful havoc across the Galaxy. But when Warp storms ushered in the Age of Strife, Qarith had been cut off from Terra along with thousands of other worlds. From what data remains, it seems that Qarith Prime and the surrounding worlds were swiftly beset by threats Warp-born and mundane. In particular they suffered at the hands of Eldar, deranged from the fall of their empire. As the storms closed in, the ravaged Qarith people turned to genetic manipulation, seeking greater strength and a solution to the unrest brought on by the storms. They succeeded, but at an unmeasurable cost. When the storms lifted they could not even be classed as abhuman and were not recognised as such for several years. To all intents and purposes they had become alien, a melding of insect and reptile governed by psychic overlord castes. They were particularly apt to thrive on Water Worlds, having become entirely amphibious. When all became known, one Magos Biologis remarked that the Qarith had undergone a change in five thousand years that ought to have taken five million. The xenos were entirely hostile to their erstwhile kin, enslaving and twisting them into new Qarith. Qarith lay in Ultima Segmentum, one of a few hundred worlds rendered inaccessible by treacherous Warp passages. As these stabilised the Qarith began a massive wave of conquests, enslaving or destroying all that stood in their way and as yet unknown to the Imperial forces now advancing into the newly accessible territory. Indeed, the Imperials were largely occupied combating an upswell of Ork warbands, theorised to be the remnants of an empire destroyed by the Qarith. Thus the Qarith found the borders of the Imperium half-built and porous, and many of their armies unsuspecting and easy prey. Conflict The first Imperial force to record an engagement against the Qarith was a company of the Steel Legion, who were forced into a fighting retreat on the agri-world of be added. The Crimson Lions moved to intervene as a dozen systems were overrun and billions of souls lost. The Imperium was faced with an enemy that rivalled the Rangdan in its power and malevolence, and might have inflicted even greater harm in earlier decades. Hectarion Mycenor led the majority of the Crimson Lions into the conflict, holding back the Qarith at severe cost. Far larger contingents of Army soldiers were soon deployed along with Mechanicum taghma, Titan Legions and Knight Houses, all of which paid a heavy price to shore up the defences. Over the course of the conflict entire Legiones Astartes Chapters, Army regiments and Titan Legions would be consumed by the fighting. The Predators entered the war three months after it began, followed shortly by a small contingent of Grave Stalkers under the infamous Ajaway and the Drowned, the latter proving especially invaluable in combating the amphibious xenos. Deep within Imperial territory, a great muster was underway. Pionus Santor called together the bulk of his Legion along with several Titan Legions, contingents of the Halcyon Wardens and Lightning Bearers, and thousands of regiments, the greatest force ever to pass through the gateway system of Katorz. With their arrival the Qarith began to be pushed back, though it was a gradual, gruelling process. In 996. M30 First Captain Antonidas of the Scions discovered the human origins of the Qarith and the psychic castes which controlled them. Armed with this knowledge the Imperials were able to destroy several Qarith hosts and turn the war into an emphatic advance. Now the Imperium made rapid strides, but the Qarith were not spent; they had mighty fortresses in the heart of their realm, and a surprise offensive deep into Imperial territory had to be interdicted by the Iron Bears before the xenos could gain a new foothold and multiply again. The decisive victory came on Qarith Prime itself, when Pionus, Hectarion and Morro led a colossal force in the invasion of the xenos' homeworld and cleansed it. Such was the scale of the victory that the Emperor decreed a triumph on the planet, at which He announced His withdrawal from the Crusade and appointed Alexandros as Warmaster. Notable Battles * The Sacrifice at Dlesica * The Battle of Udosth * The Qarith Reckoning Participant Forces Legiones Astartes * Scions Hospitalier * The Drowned * Crimson Lions * Lightning Bearers * Halcyon Wardens * Eagle Warriors * Iron Bears * Grave Stalkers * Predators Imperialis Auxilia * 453rd Medusan Steelshod * 151st Solar Auxilia Cohort, the Katorz Destructivists * Rakurai * Yamatar Ashigat * Sermezan Harriers Collegia Titanica * Legio Gojira * Legio Telesto * Legio Audax * Legio Fureans (destroyed in action, 995. M31) * Legio Pugilis Questoris Knights * House Toho * House Atreis * The Sin Eaters * House Rakham * House Balgruth * House Leitian Mechanicum Taghma * Hatross Taghmata * Akiran Taghmata * Eskut Taghmata Category:Q Category:Campaign Category:Great Crusade Category:Imperial History Category:Scions Hospitalier Category:Steel Legion Category:The Drowned